Why is pvp balanced around 3s?

I dont understand why pvp is balanced around 3s?. i know its impossible to balance around 1v1, but would it not make more sense to balance around BGs, because a lot more people take part in these then they do in arenas.

It's due to how each class and spec brings different things to the battle. 3v3 offers the most dynamics with the minimum amount of players. While each class has advantages and aspects that they are good at, they all have a counter. If you are worried about snares and slows you can bring a Paladin for Hand of Freedom. If you want good control you can bring a Mage. If you want mobility in your healer, have him play a Druid.

Think of Arena as a game of Chess. There are strategies on how you make your team, how you open, how you apply pressure, how you counter, etc. In the 2v2 bracket you are better off than 1v1 but you can still lack important strengths. In 5v5 there are a lot more combinations, not only in team composition but amount of spells and abilities in play. So, 3v3 is easier to balance than any other bracket.

Battle Grounds aren't used for balance because the ability to win is decided on a goal. Flag caps and resource points are more valuable than killing the opposition. In theory, every BG is able to be won by not making a kill on a player.

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It's due to how each class and spec brings different things to the battle. 3v3 offers the most dynamics with the minimum amount of players. While each class has advantages and aspects that they are good at, they all have a counter. If you are worried about snares and slows you can bring a Paladin for Hand of Freedom. If you want good control you can bring a Mage. If you want mobility in your healer, have him play a Druid.

Think of Arena as a game of Chess. There are strategies on how you make your team, how you open, how you apply pressure, how you counter, etc. In the 2v2 bracket you are better off than 1v1 but you can still lack important strengths. In 5v5 there are a lot more combinations, not only in team composition but amount of spells and abilities in play. So, 3v3 is easier to balance than any other bracket.

Battle Grounds aren't used for balance because the ability to win is decided on a goal. Flag caps and resource points are more valuable than killing the opposition. In theory, every BG is able to be won by not making a kill on a player.

I agree with you on all the points you made actually, thanks for clearing it up for me :P

the less players you have, the more imbalanced things will be.. the less players needed in a group to do something, the more popular that activity will be (easier to organize, coordinate, etc. this is why we don't see anymore 40man raids & whatnot). 3v3 in my opinion is by no mean balanced, at all. but it sits in that spot where it's a convenient team size for players, and therefore much more popular. now while i dont think 3s is balanced, it is given the perception of being balanced when you compare it to smaller scale pvp (2s & dueling) because there it is so apparent how unbalanced they are. i really dont have much experience in 5s, so i cant speak for that, but honestly i think bg's (rbg's) are much more balanced than any arena simply because the imbalances of classes & specs area distributed among a larger number of players.